The term post-Islamism was originally introduced by Asef Bayat. In 1996, he argued in a short essay the “coming of a post-Islamist society” where he emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran is witnessing a remarkable set of changes in its social fabric, political discourses, and religious thoughts.
So, the paradigm case of post-Islamism is Iran: “Islamists,” Bayat writes, “become aware of their anomalies and inadequacies as they attempt to institutionalize their rule.” Although at that time the post-Islamism was purely an Iranian experience, since then, it has become a widespread phenomenon in the Islamic world.
In his book, Making Islam Democratic, Bayat explores the category post-Islamism to its current development, and provides a fresh assessment of the highly contested relationship between religion, politics, and everyday life in the Middle East. He sees ground for hope in post-Islamist social movement. What follows is Bayat’s op-ed article in Middle East Times where he discusses the main tenets of his excellent book:
No democracy without Muslim citizenry:
Discussions of a “democratic deficit” in the Middle East are not new. What is novel is the persistent claim that Islam hinders democratic reform; with its emphasis on God’s sovereignty and its patriarchal cultures, Islam is argued to be essentially incompatible with democracy. (more here)
